Knights Templar article
Soon to arrive in his new home in the United States of America. Sold
Soldiers- Templer Knight
As a fighting force in the Holy lands, the Templer order became much feared by the enemy and Saladin. Saladin, who was for the time unusually merciful towards prisoners of war, made a point of executing any Templers who were unlucky enough to fall into enemy hands. Saladins fear of the Templers was well founded, in 1177 a force of 300 Knights led by the leper King of Jerusalem, Baldwin IV, routed a army of 2600 Turks, Curds, Arabs, Sudanese and Mamelukes.
Two of the greatest influences to me in this hobby are the sculpting of Adriano Larrucia and the painting of Mike Blank. I have followed with great interest there approach to this art of ours and use many of Mike Blanks techniques in my painting. When I saw the Soldiers Templer Knight at Euro Militaire painted by Mike Blank and sculpted by Adriano Larrucia, I had to give it a go. Because I have very little time to paint nowadays (working for Social Services eats up most of my time) I am very careful with what figure I choose to invest my time in (six weeks in this case). What drew me to this one was the fantastic face and it being the first commercial casting that I had seen wearing a coat of plate armour which made a change from all those classically attired Knights that we are used to seeing from other manufacturers. You dont have to paint him as a Templer though as he has a lot of potential for other Knights orders, as it is representative of many men at arms from the 13th century wearing plate armour. But being a great fan of white and interested in the crusades and the mythology surrounding the Templers I decided on the Templer order.
The figure is superbly cast by Soldiers and comes in 13 pieces including the base, there is also a choice of two heads. One open faced with a mail coif and the other hidden in a helmet. I chose the open faced option as I love painting flesh and leather and as is usual from this sculptor the face was a real stunner.
Because of the complexity of this figure, sub assemblies where employed as some of the detail on this kit is virtually impossible (especially the leather armour on the legs) to reach with the paint brush if completed prior to painting. Only two criticisms come to mind relating to this figure. If you choose to leave of the ailettes minor remodelling of the hauberk is required as the sculptor has added location holes for these. Infact it would probably be more accurate to leave the ailettes of as they are thought to have been for show and heraldic purposes rather than as a combat aid. Another criticism is the packaging, the kit is sealed in a plastic bag but there is nothing to stop large parts rubbing together. Mine had minor damage to the mail on the head, which I was fortunately able to fix. A very cheap solution to this problem would have been to package these items in bubble wrap.
The Knight needed very little cleaning up, when done all the figure except Hauberk areas were given 4 coats of diluted Humbrol white enamel to act as a primer for the acrylic and oil coats. After 24 hours drying time I began by painting the face.
Face Mixes
Undercoat-50/50 mix of acrylic Yellow Ochre+Yellow
Basecoat-Oil colour Venetian Red+Ochre+Cadmium Yellow
First Highlight-Basecoat+Naples Yellow+Titanium White
First Shadow-Venetian Red
Second Highlight-First highlight+Titanium White
Deepest Shadow-Lamp Black
Final Highlight-Titanium White
First I painted on an Andrea acrylic mix of Yellow and Yellow Ochre. This is a 50/50 mix and is applied in heavily diluted washes. Diluting the acrylic mix helps to not obscure the detail on the figure with thick paint. When dry an oil base coat was applied, this consisted of an equal mix of Venetian Red, Ochre and Cadmium Yellow. I diluted this mix using Daler and Rowney turpentine.
Next the first highlight was applied, this was the base colour plus Naples yellow and Titanium white. When this was finished I began painting the shadows in, for this I used Venetian Red straight from the tube. Another lighter highlight was then painted on. The mix for this was the same as the first highlight only with more Titanium white added. When the paint had had at least one week drying time I gave the whole face a wash of heavily thinned licquin, this gives the face a very slight sheen which adds life to the skin. Remember not to paint the beard and eyebrows with the licquin as this ruins the look of the hair.
Beard and Hair
Basecoat-Naples Yellow
Shadow-Sepia
Highlight-Naples Yellow
The beard and hair shared the same undercoat as the face, when dry I painted Naples yellow on the beard and eyebrow areas making sure to make little tufts and furrows leaving the paint as uneven as possible. When the paint had dried I used Rowney Sepia oil paint to make a wash with which to shade the beard and eyebrows. If the wash is the right consistency it will lay in the furrows on the paint giving the impression of depth. For me the shading looked a bit overdone so I highlighted the beard again using Naples yellow.
Hauberk
Shadow-Sepia
Highlight-Silver acrylic
For this I use no undercoat as I find bare metal shaded with sepia oil washes gives a
good representation of mail. The method used for painting the mail involves several washes of well diluted oil paint. These are gradually built up until the mail becomes a very dark grey. When dry a little silver acrylic was painted on in places subject to high wear and tear. And a rust coloured oil mix (Burnt Umber and Venetian Red) was used very sparingly to depict rust in suitable areas.
Leather Armour
Undercoat-50/50 mix of acrylic Yellow+Ochre
Basecoat-Lamp Black+Venetian Red
Highlight-Naples Yellow
Shadow-Lamp Black
When doing any kit, dry runs are very important, especially one of with as many parts as this one. For example a dry run would show the problems with access to painting around the leather protection from the Hauberk. I impatiently cracked open the glue and found myself in the embarrassing situation of having to remove the lower half of the gambeson to enable me to paint the leather armour and lower hauberk.
This padded Item of clothing prevented the hauberk from chafing the wearers skin, it also acted as light armour and many of the lower ranks relied on this alone for protection. It would probably have been made of a heavy cloth or leather.
First I painted an acrylic undercoat of Andrea yellow and ochre, this was a 50/50 mix. When dry I base coated the undercoat with an oil mix of Lamp Black and Venetian Red. I then highlighted all the raised areas with Naples Yellow and shaded the recessed areas with Lamp black. When this had dried tiny stitches were painted on using well thinned Naples Yellow.
Gambeson
Undercoat-Acrylic White
Basecoat-Sepia
Highlights-Titanium White
Shadow-Sepia
This is the white tunic that covers the coat of plates and bears the heraldry so that enemy and comrades could distinguish each other in battle. I began the painting of the Gambeson with an acrylic undercoat of Andrea white. Then I painted on a coat of diluted sepia oil paint, after giving this time to set (about 30mins) I painted on the first highlight of Titanium white. Because the two paints mix you will end up with a grey looking white, after giving this 1 day to dry I repainted the highlights with more Titanium oil paint and shaded the Gambeson with more sepia. After another day to dry I painted the extreme highlights with more Titanium white.
The Cross
Undercoat-Acrylic Red
Basecoat-Venetian Red+Cadmium Red
Highlight-Naples Yellow
The Templer cross was first sketched out on the figure using a Red acrylic. Then a Venetian Red/Cadmium Red base coat was painted on, I then began to highlight the Cross using Naples Yellow. This gives it the dusty look I hope you can see in the pictures. The Cross on the shield was painted in exactly the same way as the one on the Gambeson. You might wonder why I did not weather it as I did the Shield. This is because I wanted it to look recently painted, as if it was held in great importance by the bearer.
Ailettes, Shield and Scabbard
Undercoat-Acrylic White
Basecoat-Sepia
Highlight-Titanium White
For these I wanted a heavy worn White leather appearance, especially to the shield. To begin with a white acrylic undercoat was painted on. When dry a basecoat of thinned Sepia was painted on to the undercoat. Then highlighting began with Titanium white, when the highlighting was completed a stippling motion was employed to give the White leather a dotty appearance. I then painted on tiny scratches to the surface of these items to reinforce the worn look. After a weeks drying time a burnt umber Oil wash was floated on to accentuate the worn look, it is very important to ensure the oil paint has fully dried.
Sword and knee protectors
I painted all steel areas using a Lamp Black wash painted straight onto bare metal, parts of the sword such as the blade which are subject to heavy wear and tear were highlighted with Silver acrylic. The gilt parts of the sword and the whole of the knee protectors were first undercoated with Gold acrylic then shaded with Sepia.
Groundwork
The steps that the Knight stands on are supplied with the kit. After my usual four coats of primer I undercoated with acrylic Confederate Grey. When dry, washes of Sepia were employed to give the impression of stone, later a tonal wash of burnt umber was flowed over the steps to reinforce the stone look. I then attached the completed figure to a homemade plinth, the nameplate was added and voila all finished.
Conclusion
As you probably can tell I am a great fan of this kit, the quality being second to none. In the future I can see myself doing another one as a Hospitaller. My next project will be the Pegaso kit last of the Templars another stunner which I am hoping to share with you at a later date.
Availability
Soldiers kits and Andrea acrylics are available from Historex Agents of Dover, Telephone- 01304 206720 or Website WWW.Historex-Agents.co.uk . All Oil paints and thinners used were Daler-Rowney and are available from all good arts suppliers.
Hardy Tempest 21/07/03
